County Hits Jackpot With Civic Center New Daytona Landmark Prevails Over Controversy

October 3, 1985|By Rick Tonyan of The Sentinel Staff

Like steel balls rebounding off posts in a pinball machine, planners of a Volusia County convention center in Daytona Beach have bounced from one controversy to another.

Planners say that no matter which direction they turned, they bumped into a group that was angry about some aspect of the center.

Now all the problems are in the past and the concrete-and-glass building called Ocean Center opens tonight for its first professional entertainment event.

''A lot of people said it couldn't work, but here it is,'' said Jack Ascherl, chairman of the county council. Before he ran for office, Ascherl served on the tourist development council, a citizens' group that helped plan the center. ''It's just neat to stand there and see that it's happened. I would say it's a monument, or a testimonial, to determination.''

Not all of the original supporters share Ascherl's enthusiasm. Former councilman Bill Keller, who in 1977 helped get the project under way, said he has become disillusioned.

Keller supported the resort tax, a 2 percent charge on hotel, motel and other short-term accommodations. In 1978 he helped win voter approval of the tax, which is supposed to support the project.

But proposed financial plans arose after Keller left the council. In 1982 Daytona Beach pledged $3.1 million annually in municipal money to help back

the bonds to finance center construction. Now, the county is planning to lend $3 million to the city, which will use the money to buy land near the center so a private developer can build a hotel for conventioneers.

''I'm sorry about the way it's been going since I voted for the resort tax,'' Keller said.

The plans for the indirect loan to the hotel have alienated other supporters. But most council members say the hotel is vital to the ultimate success of the center and describe the loan as a good deal for the county.

Tom Staed, owner of several Daytona Beach area motels, has served on the tourist development council since it was formed in 1977. He said he opposes the loan to the hotel but still welcomes the center.

''The center's everything we wanted,'' he said. ''I can see a hotel across the street. I just see it being built with private funds. I just have a quarrel with the public funding.''

For decades Staed and other Daytona Beach area political and civic leaders talked about building a convention center to help the county's tourist economy. Tourists historically have crowded into the county's hotels and motels when races are being held at the Daytona International Speedway and during the summer.

During the fall, winter and early spring, tourists are few and thousands of motel rooms are empty. A center that could attract conventioneers during the slow tourist months would fill some of the rooms during that time, business leaders say.

Plans for such a center were little more than empty talk until the Legislature opened the door with the resort tax. Then, hopes rose that the project would become a reality.

Those hopes were repeatedly frustrated. It took center planners two years longer to realize their dreams than it took railroad pioneers in the 1860s to finish laying the first transcontinental train tracks.

Center planners had to convince the public that the project would be financially sound, to referee disputes over where the building should be located and to wait out a nationwide recession that accompanied escalating inflation rates for construction projects.

Bitterness remains in the fallout from some of the controversies. For example, Rich Morgan, a 62-year-old retiree, said he still resents having part of the building stand where his home once was.

Morgan was one of about 20 residents in a four-block area north of Main Street who fought rather than sell their homes to the county. Eventually, the residents lost a series of condemnation suits and their homes were razed.

''I think the whole thing just reflects on the lousy, rotten political setup we have in the county,'' said Morgan, who now lives in New Smyrna Beach. ''They should have called it the Sleaze Center instead of the Ocean Center.'' Still, Morgan, a fan of symphonic music, said he will probably attend events at the center. ''Yeah, I'm bitter, but that won't stop me from going to something worthwhile.''

Although the planning was frought with problems, the actual construction of the 225,000-square-building was remarkably free of problems, center planners say.

Construction began in late 1983. The contractor, Ellerbe Builders Inc., Bloomington, Minn., orginally was to have the project finished by December 1985.

The original contract also called for a guaranteed maximum price of $18.4 million for the building. As the project continued, the county added extras, such as an ice skating rink, that boosted the price.